A train of thoughts and writings on development, technology and the economy focusing on the socio-techno-economic-cultural surge of developing economies to regain and partake in leadership of the world. Written by George Easaw. (This is purely an academic site, no commercial use is allowed. Photography rights lie with the respective organisations). Mention credits as needed.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Just two days back I got my Celeron 466 motherboard problem solved after getting it repaired from Mumbai through a computer hardware geek in Ponda, Gireesh Nabhar, 9822480710. Damages to my pocket was Rs. 1.2 K.

The windooze partition is retrived and the Redhat 8 Linux partition too is working fine.

Last night I got a D-Link network interface card (rs 400/-) installed through Gireesh, it was working fine on Windooze. Later on I tried configuring BSNL Broadband on Redhat 8.0. While booting itself it configured the network card and asked whether I want to set up networking and asked the IP address of the machine, netmask, Primary DNS and lo.. , after booting when I clicked on Mozilla, it went perfectly to google.com !!

Look how easy was the configuration of Broadband on Redhat 8. Earlier I had a tough time configuring my Suse 10 for boradband.

Thanks to Edgar, Diabolic Preacher and Vidhyadhar Gadgil of Ilug-Goa for their postings and help!!

Monday, July 31, 2006

This is a brief report of the trek of the Nature Club of GEC to Tambdi Surla on 29 July 06.

Are you aware that there is a beautiful waterfall near to Tambdi Surla ?

It was 29 th of July, 2006. Nature Club of Goa Engg College decided to make it to Tambdi Surla this time. Trekking to the nearest waterfall which is at it's best during the monsoon.

The group of 40 nature lovers, Dutta on the wheels, were off at 8.30 am from GEC. On the way at the Farmagudi and Ponda new bus stand we collected more nature lovers. Aditya and gang, the organisers of the trek also got the food from mausi. The ex-BEs about 10 in number added lot of charm to the trek. Total 65 !

When we reached Tambdi Surla at 10.30 am, we made a quick visit to the temple, completed the formalities of ringing etc and came out. There was an arrow on the main road which pointed the way. One of the locals helped us by getting us to the first nallah. He bade bye and we were left to ourselves to find the way to the falls and back ! Oops !!.

The arrows marked in white paint by an earlier trekking group gave us the confidence to go ahead. The climb was a not so steep one, with enough of exictement on the way, LEECHES !! Clinging to the legs, pants, shoes, slippers etc.. Thank God it did not climb higher !

We could hear the roar of the waterfall from a distance but we could never see the majesty of it's fall till we got near. We saw some birds on the way. Being the monsoon, everything waas quiet, except for water dripping from the leaves of the trees. The famed British nature photographer Ray Wilson has setup this site. This link may give some idea to what this place is like in summer. http://www.raywilsonbirdphotography.co.uk/Foreign%20Trips/Goa/Goa10.html

At 12 noon we were truly taken aback to see one of the best sights in our lives, the water descending with foam and spray on the rocks and forcing it's way through the rocks downhill. The wind was very strong near the falls, the spray of water got us drenched. There was no stopping the boys and girls. All got into the water, a little far from the base. Spent almost an hour and a half at the base. Some were taking snaps, but one common pasttime for everyone, was fooling around the place !

It was getting to be 2 PM and hunger set in. Seeing that it was not safe to let anyone be alone near the falls, we climbed back to a safe place. With the waterfalls as company under the drenching rain, all of us had lunch of pulav and chana curry. Mausi gives good and neat food everytime. Very tasty too.

It was time to say bye and we did not want to enter the water again. By 2.30 we started the descent. Quietly we started walking. By 3.30 all had reached got bacl to the base, Tambdi Surla temple. One more visit to the temple and some snaps later we were all seated in the bus. The bus started slowly and inched it's way through the forests before it came to Dharbandora, Tiska, Khandepar and Ponda. The leeches which were caught inside the bus clinging to the bodies gave us enough company on the return journey.

At the bus stand lot many of us trekkers got down to go to Pamjim and margao and the rest in the college.

Each trek is getting better than the earlier ones, one thing we can say for sure is that Goa has many many beautiful places we need to see. The Tambdi Surla waterfalls was a gorgeous sight which we shall remember all our lives. The sheer force of the water falling on the rocks, the spray and sound it created was terrific.

An experience which I would like to relive again ! Hope so with everybody else !

Thanks to all ex-BEs and our present engico friends, you made this trek, the first of the acad year 2006-07, a success.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Eventhough I wanted to make some postings the past couple of weeks, it did not happen. The reason was our family has shifted to Kerala. I thought I was moving in a no-internet country, Kuttikanam.but it is not so .. Kuttikanam, Idukki is not a totally no-internet land. View this link for lots of info ..

http://www.govantravelsindia.com/tours/peermade.asp

Peermade, the final resting place of the Sufi hermit Peer Mohammed who came to this place with the Moplah traders centuries back, is the best hill station of Kerala after Munnar which is just a hundred kms away. Peermade was earlier the summer retreat of the Maharaja of Travancore.

It is the new place which I am going to after a couple of months. Going to live in royal opulence !!

Known for it's excellent educational facilities, Kuttikanam has the Marian College offering MBA. MCA and other allied courses. It is a very reputed institute run by Roman Catholic priests. The state govt run Institue of Human Resources Development, IHRD has a number of computer courses to offer. The state govt syllabus Mariagiri high school and the St Pius X ICSE school with 11 and 12 th stds are run by Roman Catholic sisters. The Mar Baselios College of Engg at Kuttikanam, (Pothuppara to be exact.., 5 kms from Kuttikanam), in a sprawling 77 acre campus in the midst of tea gardens, is an engg college which has come up in the self financed sector and five years old run by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. It is the only fully residential engg college in the state of Kerala, with three big hostels for the students and the only one to offer faculty accomodation. Presently only govt engg colleges offer this facility in the state.

There are five branches of engg there, ETC, Comp, Applied Electronics and Instrumentation, Electrical and Electronics and Mechanical Engg with a total intake of almost 1000 students.. I am joining there as Professor in Mechanical Engineering by end September '06. The present HOD Mechanical and Principal is Prof E V Mathew, retired Professor from TKM Engg College, Quilon.

Anila is very thrilled to be near to her hometown of Kottayam. Me too. It is indeed a great feeling to be back in the land where your forefathers have breathed and walked, to be back in the land where your childhood days bring fond memories of jackfruit, mangoes, tender coconuts, walking between rubber trees, cashew nut trees etc..

Jobin has joined 9 th std and Chinnu in the 2 nd std in St. Pius ICSE School situated at the Kuttikanam junction. Chinnu has to learn Hindi and Malayalam , while Jobin does not have to study Malayalam. The syllabus is a bit tough, and the kids are okay to it. Anila and kids are presently staying in the campus in B3 quarters.

Kuttikanam is a cool place. Anila loves this place very much. We need to be careful about leeches which are plenty in this area. They silently take away blood from your body and neutralise that chemical in the blood which promotes blood clotting. The result is that for a few minutes you will suffer loss of a smal quantity of blood. A bloody socks, inside of shoes etc can result.

The nearest town is Elappara 4 kms towards Kattapana and Pambanar 8 kms towards Kumily. There is a good mix of Tamil cuisine, culture and language in this area. Peermade town, 4 kms away towards Kumily, has a small govt dispensary, the only medical facility nearby. That could be a negative point. But the other side of life in Kuttikanam is that one can never fall ill. The place is such healthy !! Elappara has a branch of SBT. The ATM of this bank is in Kuttikanam and that is a great blessing !!! Anybody going to Thekkady, the elephant reserve from Kottayam has to pass through Kuttikanam.

Munnar, the world famous hill resort is just one hundred kms away, lying north of Kuttikanam. Kuttikanam is also 1000 m above sea level. The nearest important town with shopping facility is Mundakkayam in Kottayam. One can go to Ernakulam vis Kanjirapally, Pala, Mulanthuruthy and Piravom, it takes approximately four and a half hours to reach Ernakulam from Kuttikanam. Travelling through this route is so lovely , especially during rains. The roads are lined with ruber trees on both sides for almost three quarters of the journey. No wonder this part of Kerala is the largest producer of rubber in Kerala and the people are equally hardworking.

Transport is one thing one need not worry at Kuttikanam as there are buses plying through the picturesque mountains to Kottayam and Changanassery every fifteen minutes along this route. Buses come from Kattapana or Kumily. St Josephs Engg College at Pala and Amal Jyoti Engg college at Kanjirapally are the other two reputed Engineering colleges run by Catholic priests in this area.

Kuttikanam has a gracious cover of mist in the mornings.

In a lot of ways Goa and Kuttikanam are similar. The only differing point is in the temperature. There is greenery everywhere in Goa just like in Kuttikanam. While summers are hot in Goa it is very pleasant in Kuttikanam. I will continue in Goa for another two months before packing off to Kuttikanam.

The place is very healthy, with no pollution at all, no dust and allergy free !!

There is cable TV beaming almost 30 channels. The BSNL telephone link is quite weak, but it is compensated by a very strong presence of Airtel (GSM ) and Reliance (CDMA). We have an Airtel connection at home 0999-500-5945.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Apollo Hospitals Delhi has got themselves caught in a worstcase of destroying critical evidence and colluding withinfluential persons to hush up a drug abuse case involvingsons of political figures.

In what was televised to the whole nation, it was veryclearly evident how doctors from Apollo hospital Delhitried to hush up drug allegations in the case of RahulMahajan and Vivek Moitra and how in the ensuing days theyadmitted how their analysis was partial and never looked atthe drug abuse angle and so on.

What is frightening is the prospect of NDPS act (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) beingslammed against the doctors and Apollo Hospital on groundsof trying to delete evidence of drug abuse in the casewhich could bring imprisonment of upto 20 years for PratapReddy and his team of so called expert doctors.

This could be a good 'warning' for the many privatehospitals which have come up across the country in the nameof providing medical health to the people and working forfattening the purses of doctors and industrialists most ofwhom have paid lakhs in capitation fees to get theirmedical education financed.

It is painful to note how these commercial mindedcapitation fee doctors have brought such disrepute andviolated the Hippocrates oath (some of them may never knowwhat it means !!) in their urge to quickly recover thecapital invested in their medical education and to exploitfurther on.

The actions of the Kerala CM to give title deeds to theoriginal owners of the land, the tribals in Wayanad and towithdraw the cases charged aganst them by the police,except in the Muttanga case involving deaths of a tribaland a policeman, is indeed a welcome step.

The Kerala govt has shown that a society cannot develop bysuppressing some sections, the weak and iliterate originalowners of the land, the tribals. They have equal rights totheir homeland and livelihood like we educated have toours, which has been grabbed from them!

The Kerala govt has taught the whiteman the much neededlesson, if only he is willing to listen !. When the whiteman colonized North America, South Africa and Australia,New Zealand, India etc.., he was fighting the natives withadvanced weapons. Some of the peoples of these lands likefrom India fought back and drove out the white men, butothers had to accept defeat and move inward.

World history is replete with such incidents.

By immigrating en masse to these lands, eventhough itbrings us temporary prosperity and affluence to flauntaround and an air of intellectual suepriority to boast of,we Indians are giving a helping hand to these colonizers tosuppress the original owners of the land and continue theirvice like grip on the poor natives who are crying to getback their homeland and livelihood..

Lt us be more sensible .. either stop immigrating or stopreading such mails which are painful, the prick of theconscience is too hard to bear !!

Monday, June 12, 2006

Here is a writing from Prof Raghuram, IIMA, of May 2006.Take some time off to go thru the text.

Reduced wagonturnaround time from seven to five days, improved trainloading from 3200 tonnes to 4000 tonnes, permitting privateplayers to run container services, allowing 24 hour loadingunloading of wagons, increasing number of coaches,occupancy and speed, reducing catering expenses and parcellosses are some of the steps taken by him to boost thebottomline of IR.

Improved signals, optimum utilisation of tracks, movingsignals from tracks to locomotives, safety, optimal port freighthandling and information processing enabling fast decisionmaking are some of the areas where attention is beingfocused. That is why GE is abegging at the doors of IR fora slice of the pie of signalling.

I have been observing the Indian Railways (IR) for overthree decades now, but the initiatives of the Railwayministry in the past two years have been of particularinterest.

In 2001, this behemoth was on the verge of collapse.

The main problem was that the decision-making process atthe top management level was not in line with efficientutilisation of costs. It resulted in insufficient returnsand financial productivity was extremely low.

But 2004 saw the dawn of a new set of initiatives, led byRailway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Gradually, theorganisation’s operational and projected finances began tolook impressive, and I started studying the movements inthe IR closely.

It became apparent that Lalu’s initiatives were making adifference. He started 24-hour loading-unloading of goodswagons, legalised hitherto illegal ‘extra loading’ ofwagons, and introduced competitive bidding for movement ofgoods in containers.

As the IR understood that demand will fluctuate accordingto changes in price, it stopped taking its clientele forgranted and imbibed better customer orientation, especiallyin its freight traffic services.

I feel that bringing in kulhads (earthen cups for tea) wasa populist move, which attracted more flak thanappreciation, but Lalu was not deterred. It illustrateswhat defined the turnaround — determination to implementdespite criticism.

The biggest hurdle for the IR all these years was not thelack of innovative ideas, but the lack of willingness toimplement them. When Lalu took over, he was in a politicalhole.

The Railway ministry seemed like the last opportunity forhim to retain his popularity. Driven by a keenunderstanding of the problems at the grassroots level, therustic leader was also a clear thinker, knew how to use hispolitical clout, and was motivated enough to take risks.

But the overall success cannot be credited to Lalu alone.He was influenced by his team, and convinced by numerousofficers over a long period of time. But a special mentionneeds to be made of officer on special duty to the Railwayminister, Sudhir Kumar (IAS).

Kumar had a sound understanding of the Railways’operations. He recognised the minister’s ambitions andtranslated them into opportunities by giving the ministerproductive ideas.

Even today, the IR has more challenges than it can handle.Given the rapidly changing environment, the IR needs tolearn to respond to change swiftly. I feel sustainabilityis a question mark.

Safety is still the biggest challenge that the IR needs toaddress. Optimisation of track utilisation is alsorequired. Signals could be moved from tracks tolocomotives.

The greatest opportunity for the IR today is ports. As muchas 25 per cent of the IR’s total traffic comes from ports,and it should improve port connectivity by acquiringadvance information systems for handling port traffic, andinvite public-private partnership for key port areas.

The IR can function as an umbrella, promoting private stakein appropriate areas. That’s the way to growth. It shouldstart niche services like luxury trains, which would begood revenue generators. Speed being a requirement, the IRneeds to streamline traffic movement, and introduceflyovers or a bypass when two tracks merge.

With an ambitious railway minister at the helm, and a slewof bold initiatives, the mammoth has saved itself fromextinction, for now. But the giant needs to become nimbleto be able to sustain the turnaround.

(The writer is professor, public systems group, IIM,Ahmedabad. He was a member of the Rakesh Mohan Experts’Committee on Indian Railways, 2001.)

Sunday, May 28, 2006

India Railways under Lalu Prasad Yadav is doing a great job and Prof G Raghuram, Professor , Public Systems, IIM Ahmedabad was preparing for the meeting with the Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

After the very successful one year of Indian Railways with Lalu Prasad in-charge, IR made impressive progress both on the passenger and freight front. In both the cases, traffic and earnings increased by almost 33 percent. In the period of low fare airlines competing with AC and first class of the IR for long distance travel, Lalu managed to bring down the upper class fares and reduced the second class fares by a nominal one rupee on each ticket. The beauty of Lalu's tenure is that in spite of the reduction in fare, IR did manage to get a profit of Rs. 13,000 crores. Unimaginable !!

It is not that there have been no other sincere and hard working minister for Railways who could give the required leadership and motivation to the staff of IR. We have had great people like Madhu Dandavate and others who managed the Railways Ministry well, but nobody ever could do such wonders or ever attempted !!

An earlier committee constituted by the Union Cabinet, the Rakesh Mohan Committee, of which Prof G Raghuram was a member, had warned the Union Govt to be prepared to pump in Rs. 65,000 crores during the next 10 years to just get the Railways running on the tracks.

We need to look at the scenario from such a grim background. When the management experts in the committee were very sceptical of the functioning of the IR, here comes the wonder man and does the greatest turnaround in the largest organisation in the world. This turnaround could even be classified as one of the greatest turn arounds in commercial history anywhere in the world. And only a person like Lalu Yadav could bring it along.

When the committee headed by Prof G Raghuram went to meet the Railway Minister in his office he offered them a warm welcome. On receiving the pat from the experts on the turn around of the IR, Lalu was as quiet as ever. He just attributed it to the hard work and the sincerity of the railway employees.

When Prof Raghuram offered him help to set up a committee which could advise the Minister on matters of technical and business interests, the Minister politely denied (rather rebuffed) the request, saying that he already has enough experts with him who can manage the Ministry well and does not need any help from outside.

It was a superb and masterly stroke from a great leader, who in one statement raised the morale of the entire working force in the IR. They will now be more devoted and sincere in their approach to the Minister and will never belie the faith he has placed on them.

India definitely needs such great leaders and politicians. Eventhough Lalu has another side which is slightly uncomfortable for him, his contribution to the IR will be remembered for a long time to come. A unbelievable feat which will be difficult to replicate by anybody anywhere else in the world.

Another case at point is the successful construction and commissioning of the world's most modern metro railway in Delhi under the able leadership of it's MD, E Sridharan. A true technocrat, this is another feather in his cap, having been respsonsible for successfully commissioning the Calcutta Metro and Konkan Railway earlier.

The two people are the rare gems one can find in society once in a while. And we need to give them our full support and accolades in achieving some humanly impossible feats !

Saturday, May 27, 2006

This was a writing I did in September 2004. I thought reproducing it would be apt given the popularity of the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav ..

Laloo - The Common Man's Minister ..

Laloo Prasad Yadav is slowly emerging as the hero of IndianDemocracy. The man of the people. But there are some whomay differ, who inspite of being after his blood all thepast five years had to return empty handed, only to see himreturn to Parliament emboldened with not only better votesand seats for his party, but also in the central cabinetholding powerful portfolios. He sure seems to be Manmohan'starget man to get the opposition behave the way it should.

Some of his actions have been admirable and timely.

Replacing plastic cups for Khulhar(earthen pots) was such apopular exercise, that it earned immediate recognition andsupport among the masses and conveyed that he meantbusiness right from day one. Serious business. Getting allupholstery from the handicrafts sector, he has given asecond life to the neglected and poverty stricken artisansand weavers. An attempt to identify with theunderpriviledged and downtrodden in the society.

He is no doubt a man of the masses, the style and manner inwhich he stopped a goods train in Bihar to check its goodswas something no other Railway Minister has done so far anddare not attempt too. By that acion he has conveyed that hecan be strict at times too.

Ordering a Railway Enquiry into the reason behind theGodhra train burning and asking the Committee to fixresponsibility on the concerned Railway Officials and topropose ways and means to avoid such incidents in thefuture was no doubt a masterly stroke. Many skeletons willfall from the cupboard for sure. Surely the common man'smost important concern in rail travel. The day theannouncement was made after a cabinet meeting, the mannerin which Laloo stuck to his ground holding the card closeto his chest even after repeated cross questioning byRajdeep Sardessai in the X-factor programme on NDTV wasamazing.

Second was the tainted minster issue over the fodder scamfor which he has been constantly opposed by the BJP.Whether one is accused of swindling crores of rupees and iselected by a vast majority by the people or one swayscommunal frenzy and lets loose mob psyche by fieryspeeches, leading to the killing of innocents and againgetting elected to the Parliament, a criminal remains acriminal. As the PM has remarked, criminals cannot be oftwo classes, there has to be political understanding ofwhat constitues criminal behaviour and whether a criminalgetting peoples mandate can take a position of authority ingovernment.

Third salvo was fired just days back, asking the LeiberhannCommission probing the events that led to the Babri Masjiddemolition in 1992, to probe the role of Advani, Joshi andUma Bharati by asking the Time Reporters Anita Pratap andher cameraman to testify before the judge as to whattranspired at the demolition time in Ayodhya. An eventwhich has sent shivers down the spine of the BJP leadershipand which has made them to immediately go into defensivemode contemplating what bullet will come next from the gunof this totally unbeatable man of the masses.

With the top league Universities of the world queueing forappointments to get him talk at their universities onpublic governance and even Bollywood eager to get some ofhis glamour and glory, Laloo is now ruling at the top ofthe popularity charts.

The BJP has understood that it was playing with fire whenit tried its level best some years back to get him arrestedand put him behind bars. Laloo is taking his revenge at hissweet pleasure and leisure. Each time he gets to speak,there are lots of people eagerly watching the movement ofhis lips. And the BJP leadership already its back againstthe wall for the destructive role it has been playing asthe opposition and earning the ire of the media and thecommon man in the country is getting nervous day by day,not knowing what this minister is upto next. It isdumbstruck, how to silence him before he drops the nextbomb.

Friday, May 12, 2006

the people's wish, needs to be respected. Can we say with certainty that UDF will come back next time ? Not forgetting the drubbing the same LDF got from UDF last timeafter leaving the treasury bankrupt with almost rs. 36000 crores in debt. Now it is reversed.

Issues much dearer than Smartcities and expressways need to be handled by the new Govt.. How will they be able to solve the acute unemployment problem in the state, will they be a silent witness toKerala once again missing the chance to get on the IT superhighway ? Will Kerala once again fall behind in providing the right infrastructure and climate for industrial houses to set up shop in Kerala ?

Will the Left learn from the WB Left who have no qualms inviting FDI in the state ? They are even vying to get Walmart, world's largest retailer open shop in Kolkata.

How the LDF is going to lead the state the next five years, provide employment, infrastructure, invite investments into the state, drain the treasury with welfare activities, allneeds to be seen eagerly.

The Kerala people have again demonstrated that communalists and opportunists have no say in Kerala.

After all, people's infinite wisdom and verdict are to be respected. And there lies the success of a democracy.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Vrindavan Gardens in Varcandeim, Ponda , Goa is the biggest residential complex in Ponda. And that is where I stay. There are about 120 flats in this comples divided into A1.A2,B1,B2,B3,D and row houses of the C type.

The beauty of the place is that this is also the only complex in Ponda which offers play area for the kids. My kids, jobin 12 years and Chinnu 7 years, just run to the play area in the evenings and play there to their heart's content daily. They have many friends there. The only problem we have started encountering these days is the growing number of cars which are vying for parking space in the campus. This is reducing the running area for the kids in the complex.

There is a grocery store by Naresh who also sells milk and vegetables here. There is a nedical shop, toy shop, the Sushrusha nursing home run by the Prabhu doctor couple, the kitchen furniture shop, the yoga clinic run by DR. Sawaikar nearby. There is also a hotel , cyber cafe etc. which have been started nearby.

Overall the place is very good and comfortable. Presently we are having some water problems, which is getting sorted out. The society is yet to be formed even though we have paid 4500 rupees for that.

Without AC I find staying on the top floor of A2 building is very difficult in Summer. A2-TF-01 is exactly where I stay.

The PM had a week back anounced at a CII meeting that the industry also needs to share the load of social responsibility towards the backward sections of the society along with the government.

A day later Azim Premji of Wipro told that there is no place for reservation in his company and that reservation can only blunt the cutting edge in innovative employment practices and technological innovations the indian private sector industry is enjoying presently.

The government still feels that the private sector should also be partakers to the social upliftment policies for the backward classes which it is pursuing vigorously all these years since independence. Has these reservation policies brought any improvement to the really backward sections of the society or only to the affluent and powerful from among the backward classes which is apportioning to itself all the benefits? The really backward thus continue to remain backward, whatever policies the government pursues.

There is also an opinion that the industry needs to fund primary education to a greater extent. Already the Premji foundation of WIPRO is doing that, What the govt is asking now is getting an assurance from the industry that it will have an affirmative plan of action in place to accomodate the weaker sections of the society, keeping it's commitment to competency and excellence in mind.

The ball is in industry's court which needs to respond to the government proposal positively. Need to wait. Meanwhile the debates going on will help clear up all the confusion regading the reservation policies in the government, it's implementation and followup.

Instead of trying to end reservations in a phased manner, the government is looking to globalise it by extending it to more sections and to more departments. This will definitely affect the competitive edge of Indian industry.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

The most important offshoot of Bush's visit to South Asia last month has been the signing of the nuclear accord. The second offshoot has been the sidelining of Pakistan for obvious reasons, though this has never been in the Indian radar.

Gen Musharraf raised a number of issues for discussion with the US Prez Bush, which he hoped would get a patient hearing, being the US partner in it's war against terror.

1. Being a military ruler, issue of Kashmir and provision of further ammo for continuing the military rule in Pakistan was foremost in Mush's mind. Very natural to expect from a military ruler. But Kashmir issue never enticed Bush this time as much as the nucleardeal with India.

2. Second it was issue regarding nuclear co-operation with Pakistan, which Bush was very wary considering the nuclear proliferation history of US' greatest friend Pakistan, to other rogue nations of the world. From where did Iran get the technology to start it's nuclear research for peaceful or military use ? Where did North Korea get's the technology from ? Lastly let us not forget, from where did Pakistan itself get it's nuclear technology from ?? Dr, Khan's infamous revelations and confessions were a shame for the western world. The history is different for India. With an indigenously developed research backing, it was and is in US' interest to engage with India constructively to keep track of advances in Indian nuclear research. The non-proliferation treaty, everyone knows, is a selfish ploy by the nuclear-haves from not getting overtaken by the nuclear-not-haves. This treaty was the first step and only way in which US could contain India's nuclear research ambitions.

3. Thirdly the issues raised by Bush of getting democracy back in Pakistan, irked Gen. Mush no doubt. Gen mush claimed his efforts to bring 'sustainable democracy ' in Pakistan (with him at the helm, of course..). Bush was sceptical whether the elections promised by Mush in 2007 would also be a farce like earlier ones. Even though one cannot say it was a slap on Mush's face, it no doubt was condemnation of the military establishment and it's role in contributing to the backwardness of Pakistan.

Raising Kashmir at every international fora has become a favourite pasttime and a ploy for Mush and Pakistan to deviate the attention of it's people from the sad state of Pakistan's economy at present. Undue interference of the Pak military in the democratic functioning of that country has been a bane for Pak ever since it got carved out of India. Also Pak's bad reputation reg nuclear proliferation has been the final nail on it's coffin.

US has found it's new found Saviour and friend in India, a country which has strived over the years during the cold war and afterwards, during the unipolar regime, to maintain it's own identity and preserve it's form of a strained democracy, not to get swayed by allurements. US has reasons and excuses enough to dump it's age old ally and friend, Pakistan.

It is the beginning of a new era in co-operaton between the world's two largest democracies. A relationship which can effectively sidetrack the growing clout of China in Asia and the world. For eg. the PC wing of IBM which was the pride of the IT industry of US, is now in Chinese hands. Unless India promises to continue deliver the brains, to drive the monopolist and capitalist US economy and industry, to help maintain it's cutting edge over other countries of the world, including India, US may not exist in the next century.

If Bush never got this treaty through, it would have been a missed opportunity for the greatest democracies of the world to carve out a mutually beneficial agreement for the betterment of humanity and to make the world a better place to live, at least for the next hundred years.

Kerala is known for it's bipolar political landscape. Over many years it has been oscillating returning UDF and LDF after each assembly election. Come what may, and how well and how worse each group performs and delivers, invariably assembly elections return the "opposite" group.

Some sociologists call it the seesaw effect. This year too the incumbent government headed by the Indian National Congress and like minded allies like the Muslim League, Kerala Congress etc. are wary. The reason, they can foresee the seesaw effect. They are now trying to challenge this theory proposing that the seesaw effect need not happen always and this time, the UDF will be "returned" to power.

The main plank on which the UDF led by Oommen Chandy is banking on is the development agenda which has been pursued quite vigorously by UDF the last two years. Without development all of us know that the state cannot progress and catch up with the rest of the country. In the field of IT and IT related services, Kerala has got very good talent and if related industries are started, the state can develop to a great extent.

The marxists on the other hand are insisting on the question of social welfare and environmental protection. Unmindful of the fact that welfare and development of the society and it's members can only go hand in hand and not at variance with each other, they are fighting against each other, even though they are the two sides of the same coin, but do not want to accept that the opposite group is also alongside it in the march to development and welfare of the society.

While Vikasana Shathru ( as VS Achuthanandan is endearingly called by Malayalees all over) insists on opposing "all" the policies of the UDF, be they for development of the state or welfare of the people, Oommen Chandy heading the UDF, loses no time in accusing the LDF of being against development of the state and accuses it of nstead being interested in taking the state backward.

The irony observed was that even though within the state, Congress and Marxists are at each other's throat, the Central Congress leaders who came for electioneering work, never raised a point against the Marxists. Fully mindful of the fact that it is the Marxists that are propping them at the Centre, Congress leadership dare not point accusing fingers at them. The Marxists on the other hand, measuring the smooth sailing they can expect this time both in West Bengal and Kerala are getting a bit complacent, which finally could be only to their detriment.

Can Welfare happen without development or can development happen without welfare ? They are complementing each other. Each needs the other. So far Kerala has been concentrating on welfare of it's people. This has resulted in we getting to the top in the country regarding social security indicators and educational standards,comparable even to the state of New York in USA. But this overt attention on welfare and citizen's rights has resulted in lopsided development, with Industries and other mass employment generation potential opportunities getting sidelined and starting elsewhere. Trading and expatriate payments from the Gulf and Europe are presently responsible for maintaining the economy and the people.

While Oommen Chandy claims it is this scenario which he would like to address and get changed for the better, VS counters it by saying that all such development is only with a dangerous mindset and desire to see that the people finally suffer the illeffects while Kerala is sold to multinationals and rich companies.

Let the people decide who is right and who is wrong ( or just the 2 % of the electorate whose swing decides the final verdict). One thing is for sure, even this election cannot bring stability with development and welfare to the state. The churning process will continue for many years before Kerala can firmly get itself firmly girded on the road to development.

Friday, April 21, 2006

My service in Goa Engineering College has had many ups and downs. Presently armed with PhD and 16 years of service in Govt Engineering College, Goa I should try to leverage and make the best use of the time spent.

Today I was told by the Dir of Accounts that I am eligible for a decent amount as pension. I should try to switch over my career to either software or management education to get on the fast track. I know I can achieve much more in life, but it takes patience. Will Wipro respond to my application ?